Within His Keeping: God’S Amazing Embrace of Your Life

By TERESA JONES

Does God care about you? Is He aware of your day-to-day activities, worries, afflictions, and sorrows?

God is not a distant, uninterested, uncaring being that created the world then left the inhabitants to fend for themselves. God engages in every aspect of your life.

Almighty God loves you with a deep and perfect love. He will call you to be His child, a part of His intimate family. He is aware of each minute of your existence. He knew you before you were born and has a divine purpose for your life. He never leaves you. He never forsakes you. He is always aware and available. He picks you up when you fall. He sets you back on the right path when you stray. He protects and comforts you through trouble when it comes. He forgives you over and over again when you lose sight, make wrong choices, and make mistakes.

He isnt distant at all. In fact, God is involved and concerned about everything regarding you, His child. Teresa Jones takes the truths from Psalm 139 and conveys biblical examples of Gods intervention while providing an intimate walk through her personal testimony of living within His keeping.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781449794798

Book preview

Contents

Preface

1. He Draws Us

2. He Redeems Us

3. He Leads Us

4. He Sustains Us

5. He Forgives Us

6. He Protects Us

7. He Empowers Us

8. He Heals Us

9. He Holds Us

10. He Retains Us

11. He Soothes Us

12. He Governs Us

Reader’s Discussion Guide

I dedicate this book to the loving memory of my mother and grandmother, who illustrated God’s love through their lives.

However, the primary dedication goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has kept me close to His side despite my tendency to stray. He has moved my heart to write these words, and by reading them, perhaps you too will draw closer to God and live within His keeping.

Preface

God is not some distant, uncaring being who created the world and then left the inhabitants to fend for themselves. Quite the opposite is true. In fact, the Holy Bible relates story after story of God’s involvement even in the smallest facets of human life. But He did not limit His relationship with humanity to biblical characters. God also desires to be involved in every aspect of your life and mine.

I have heard people say, God has too many worries to be concerned with my problems. Wrong! God has a deep and unconditional love for every person He has created. He knew you before you were born and has a purpose for your life. At some point, He will call you to be His child, a part of His intimate family. This calling will make clear that you have lived contrary to God’s laws and deserve punishment. The Bible refers to the violation of God’s commandments as sin, and He has declared that the punishment for sin is death. He ordained this punishment with the first sin of Adam and Eve, who disobeyed Him in the garden of Eden.

But God knew when He gave us His laws that we were too weak to keep them. In fact, these laws were intended to provide us an understanding of His expectations and a measuring stick to know when we have failed. The knowledge that we aren’t perfect makes us appreciate the wonderful gift that God provided, for He did not leave us to die in our sin. Instead He sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to live a life without sin. He never failed God. Then Jesus allowed Himself to be executed in our place. He was our substitute and took our punishment. When God calls us, all we are asked to do is to accept this marvelous gift. If we choose to do this, we are no longer held accountable and acquire the right to live forever. We become children of God.

God then sends His power to dwell within us through His Holy Spirit and leads us through each day. With gratitude for being pardoned, we live our lives to serve and honor Him. He deserves our allegiance, adoration, and praise!

The beauty of salvation is that you become a child of God. He is interested in your good times and successes as well as your tough days and problems. He is aware of each minute of your life. Because God is all knowing, He guides you better than any earthy father can. He wants to place you within His perfect plan. He has a purpose for your life and will manifest His plan for you and encourage you to follow it.

God loves you with a deep and perfect love. He never leaves you. He never forsakes you. He is always aware and available. He picks you up when you fall. He sets you back on the right path when you stray. He comforts and holds you through trouble when it comes. He forgives you over and over again when you lose sight of Him and make wrong choices.

He isn’t distant at all. In fact, God is involved and concerned about everything regarding you, His child. I have experienced this relationship. This book is my testimony about living within His keeping.

Psalm 139

God’s Perfect Knowledge of Man

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

You know my sitting down and my rising up;

You understand my thought afar off.

You comprehend my path and my lying down,

And are acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word on my tongue,

But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

You have hedged me behind and before,

And laid Your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

It is high, I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning,

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall lead me,

And Your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, Surely the darkness shall fall on me,

Even the night shall be light about me;

Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,

But the night shines as the day;

The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;

When I awake, I am still with You.

Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!

Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.

For they speak against You wickedly;

Your enemies take Your name in vain.

Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?

And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?

I hate them with perfect hatred;

I count them my enemies.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.

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Chapter 1

He Draws Us

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.

—John 12:32

It was just a large white rock, yet I was fascinated by it as a small six-year-old child. The stone sat at the end of a gravel drive that led to a dirt road on the many acres of land where I was raised. Five fish ponds were spread out on this vast playground. The small boulder rested beside a small pond behind the meat-packing plant, our family business. The rock was isolated, with no trees or bushes nearby. It was about two feet square with a flat top and a creamy marble texture. I can still visualize it fifty years later. I sat beside it, running my tiny hands over its smooth, cool surface. My tender young heart imagined that it was Jesus’ throne and that I could sit beside it and be comforted with His companionship. Though I was young, I greatly desired to be in His presence. This is my earliest memory of God drawing me to Him.

My parents sent us to Sunday school at a small Baptist church about a mile from home. My older brother and sister and I, along with our three cousins, were dropped off each Sunday morning. After the hour-long session, we often walked home instead of waiting to be picked up. In the early 1960s, traffic was light and parents didn’t worry that some meanness or mishap would befall their kids.

Being the youngest of the group, I attended the preschool class led by a beloved woman of God. This kind spirit told us stories of Jesus, recounting how He allowed the children to come to Him even though the disciples tried to send them away. But Jesus called them to Him and said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God’ (Luke 18:16).

I vaguely recall a picture in class of Jesus sitting on a rock with tiny tots crawling all over Him. I suppose I thought that the rock